


Ohana

by Qwerty1



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Platonic Cuddling, Protective Number Five | The Boy, Sibling Love, post season 1 au kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25384519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qwerty1/pseuds/Qwerty1
Summary: Klaus is once again haunted by childhood traumas in his sleep, but this time it´s not the mauseleum ghosts screaming in his face. This time, his mind makes him relive the first time he lost a brother.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 1
Kudos: 114





	Ohana

There´s something very off about this family dinner. Sure, that´s how it usually goes with their family, but it´s particularly weird this time. Like reality is somehow slightly warped. Klaus pushes his food around on his plate, looking around at his siblings. They are all eating silently, just looking down at their plates, no one speaking a word at all. Not like them at all, Klaus thinks. Even with the world now safe again, their family dinners always seem to include some type of bickering. He keeps looking around, until his eyes lands on something that makes his blood freeze to ice. It´s their adoptive father, just sitting there. What the hell is going on? Why are the others just letting him sit here!? Sure, when they were kids they were really too frightened to say anything against him, but they are all adults now! Adult or not, he suddenly feels tiny, trying to speak, trying to question what the hell is happening, but his jaw feels too heavy and it won´t move properly.

And then Five stabs his knife into the table, hard. Klaus is immediately relieved: trust their little psycho brother to never accept a shitty situation when you can do something about it. Klaus feels a warm fondness sparking in his chest, and he is suddenly reminded exactly how much he missed him all those years he was gone. And how happy he was to see him again, even in his child body. All eyes turn to Five.  
“Number Five!” their father scolds him sharply.  
Five does not shy away, always the little rebel. Klaus finds himself smiling a little, feeling like a very proud older (younger?) brother.  
“I want to time travel”, Five announces then, and the scene takes a familiarity that has Klaus´ stomach turn with anxiety.  
Reginald sighs.  
“The answer is no”, he tells the smallest sibling.

Five is clearly not having that answer, standing up from his chair and spacial-jumping so he ends up next to their father.  
“I´ve been practicing! I´m ready!” he hisses.  
“No, you´re not, and you´ll never be”, Reginald tells him, nearly calmly.  
Five turns to storm off. Klaus panics, dropping his cutlery onto the plate and rising to his feet.  
“FIVE, NO!” he screams.  
Or, at least wants to, but there´s no sound leaving his mouth. Five has left the kitchen, running out towards the front door. Rather than calling after him, Klaus takes off running as well. It feels like he is running through water, but he keeps fighting. When he finally catches up with his brother, the smaller one is standing outside the gates, on the pavement, looking right at him. Klaus runs right after him, stumbling to a stop outside the large house as well.

“Five, please, no. You don´t understand, all this- It has happened before!”  
Five just glares.  
“What are you talking about? Actually, nevermind, you are probably high out of your mind”, he sneers.  
Klaus blinks.  
“W-w-hat? Five, you know I´ve been clean for months now”, he says, voice shaky and his bottom lip trembling as he gets closer and closer to crying.  
His brother just ignores this, turning to look away from him, away from the Academy.  
“Doesn´t matter, I´m leaving anyway”, he announces, voice cold and harsh.  
“Leaving?” Klaus asks, the words coming out in a sob.  
“Yup.”  
The smaller-but-older sibling turns and starts running, there´s a cloud of blue energy, and then he is gone, Klaus left standing alone outside their home. He falls to the ground, tears streaming down his face.  
“Come back! Five, come back! No, please, I´m sorry-!”

Klaus snaps his eyes open, gasping in a harsh, panicked breath. He is not outside, he is laying in his bed, in his bedroom, in the Academy. Five, he has to find Five! He sits up, and then continues to jump up to his feet.  
“Klaus! Hey, it´s okay, hey, hey, hey-”, Ben says, hurrying over to his side.  
Klaus tries to catch his breath.  
“Ben?”  
“That´s my name”, the ghosts announces.  
Klaus rubs his hands across his face, attempting to think through this. There´s no way that was more than a dream. Right? Five came back, on the day of the funeral. He helped them save the world. Right? He has been helping Klaus through the worst of withdrawal these last months, and just last week Klaus showed his older/younger brother his favorite Disney movie! Right? Right!?

He ends up staring at Ben, almost in a panic.  
“Where´s Five?”  
This question seems to be the last thing Ben expected to hear.  
“In his room? It´s the middle of the night?”  
Klaus continues to stare.  
“I mean, yeah he is technically an adult and he is known for sneaking out, but you know how our therapist nags him about the importance of healthy sleep patterns”.  
Klaus still stares.  
“I know how protective you guys are over each other, but even if he snuck out I am convinced he´ll be okay! Klaus, what´s going on?”  
Klaus sniffs, wiping his tears with the sleeve of his pride-themed pyjama shirt.  
“I- I had a nightmare. I need- I need to see Five”, he admits in a whisper.  
He actually expects Ben to protest, to say the oldest brother needs his sleep and shouldn´t be disturbed, but his deceased brother nods in understanding. Klaus has a feeling he gets it, that he knows what the dream was about. To this day, he remembers him and Ben huddling together on the floor, sobbing into each other´s shirts after their father had gathered them all in the parlor and announced Five wasn´t coming home again.  
“Okay, let´s go”, the ghost says, and with that the two are out the bedroom door.

The hallway is silent and dark at this time of night, for obvious reasons. If the circumstances had been different, Klaus would have made a point to try to sneak silently past his siblings´ rooms, but the constant panic from the vivid dream never seems to go away and so now he frantically hurries over to Five´s room and slams the door open, the panic in his chest outweighing the usual desire to not frighten or disturbed his siblings. Five bolts up into sitting position, with the reaction expected of a former assassin who has been through hell and then some more. He quickly realizes there is no threat in his doorway, only his younger but older-looking brother, and his confused look morphs into one of concern as he reaches over and turns the night-light on.  
“Klaus? Oh, you look awful. Are you okay?”  
It´s something about hearing his voice that has the dam breaking, a sob making its way out of Klaus´ throat, and a blue flash and a woosh-noise later he has his child-sized older brother hugging him. If this had happened a few months back Klaus would have jumped out of his skin of the shock from having the Hargreeves most known for aggression be affectionate like this, but between therapy sessions and the apocalypse no longer being an issue it has come to light that Five is still very fond and protective of his siblings. He did, after all, take a job revolving around literal murder so he could get back and save his family.

Once Klaus has managed to calm down a little Five leads him over to the bed and they both sit down, Ben sitting down on Klaus´ other side. The ghost isn´t currently visible to anyone but Klaus, cause it still takes a conscious effort that leaves him tired to make it so.  
“You wanna tell me about it?” Five asks.  
Klaus glances at Ben, who is nodding to him.  
“Are you gonna let it go before I do?” Klaus responds.  
Five gives a small smile.  
“Well, I mean I can´t make you, but I´m pretty sure you had a nightmare, and I refuse to let my little brother be alone after a nightmare, if you tell me or not”, he says.  
“Tell him. You know it will help”, Ben urges him.  
“I´m not alone, Ben´s here”, Klaus says instead, his mind defaulting back to the reaction of deflecting rather than speaking about trauma.  
Especially this trauma, which is something his father made him bury deep down in his mind and not allow him to speak about.

Five turns to him, putting a small hand on Klaus´ arm.  
“Klaus, I only want to help you”, he says, gently, very obviously seeing through the deflection.  
Klaus sighs.  
“I dreamed about the day you left”, he finally whispers.  
Five´s initial reaction is confusion. He doesn´t seem to understand, not right away. Klaus would like to explain further, but he has started crying again and he currently can´t really get words out. Five curls into his side, rubbing his back.  
“You mean…? When we were kids?” the smaller asks, understanding hitting him.  
Klaus nods, wiping his tears.  
“Dad never allowed us to talk about you. Hypocritical as fuck, since he had that huge portrait painted.”  
“Shit, that´s one fucked up bastard”, Five breaths, giving him another hug.  
“Very much so. I- I still remember it, I missed you so much.”  
Klaus´ voice is quivering, as he is crying into his brother´s shoulder. Five is still rubbing his back, in small, comforting circles. He can´t help but feel really stupid about this: here he is, crying into his brother´s arms, when the same brother ended up all alone while all Klaus was crying about was not having him there anymore. Very silly, really. Five should be the one crying, not him, but he is crying and Five is not. This further proves what their father always used to tell him: he is weak.

Five shifts, then, pulling back enough from the embrace to look at him face-to-face.  
“I´m not gonna leave again, you do know that? Right?”  
Klaus only sniffs, wiping his tears.  
“Hey, dude, I´m serious. The world is saved and everything is alright, and I am not going to leave you guys again. You know, ohana”, the smaller but older offers with a bright, helpful smile.  
The reference to Klaus´ favorite Disney movie is clearly an attempt at getting him on better thoughts, and it absolutely works cause despite the tears still in his eyes he is smiling.  
“Told you you´d love it”, he says, very grateful to have something else to focus on.  
“Perhaps, but Toy Story is still the best Disney movie, and always will be”, Five declares smugly, scooting up towards the pillows at the bed´s headboard.  
Klaus gasps, mock-offended.  
“Do you hear this?” he asks Ben, gesturing with both arms towards his older brother, now in the process of arranging a pillow behind his back to sit comfortably, legs crossed and hands in his lap.  
“Please, don´t involve me in this”, the ghost says, shaking his head.

Klaus snorts, but the noise is cut off by a long, loud yawn. Five smiles, knowingly, from where he is curled up sitting by the corner of the headboard. He has pulled the covers aside, and is now patting the spot of the bed next to him. Klaus stares, in sleepy confusion.  
“Klaus, you need to sleep, and I don´t like the thought of you being unsupervised after a bad dream. Sorry, Ben, I know you are here, but I just… Want to protect him”, Five says, stumbling a little over the last part.  
“And I appreciate that greatly”, Ben says, automatically responding despite not currently being visible.  
“He says he appreciates it, and you are annoying”, Klaus says.  
Five gives an amused smile.  
“Well, I am taking to the role of big brother very well in that case”, he declares, almost proudly.  
“Absolutely, little one”, Klaus says with a grin, crawling over to him and ruffling his hair.  
“Careful, I have killed people”, Five says, staring up at him, but the smaller´s voice is bright and playful rather than just angry.

Like any younger brother, Klaus would refuse to admit it out loud, but Five is right. At least on the part about him needing sleep. He rubs his eyes, crawling underneath the covers. Five is still sitting there, in the corner. Klaus turns to lay on his side to look directly at him.  
“You need sleep too, old man.”  
Five pulls a face like he has just been called out for something he hoped he would get away with. Ben, still sitting on the bed, gives Klaus a thumbs up for remembering to remind the oldest-but-smaller to care for himself as well.  
“You are annoying, too”, Five groans, but he ends up climbing down under the covers as well.  
“Just getting into the role of younger brother”, Klaus says with a giggle, and he receives a playful jab to his shoulder.  
“Shut up.”  
“Or what?”  
“I´ll stab you.”  
“Promise?”  
“I just might… HEY, stop stealing the covers!”  
“I am not- Ooof, how are you this strong? Give me!”

They give up wrestling over the covers, dividing it equally between the two of them, settling down for the night as Five reaches over to turn out the night-light. Klaus squints into the darkness, and after some focusing of the eyes he can make out Ben´s silhouette, still there on the bed, watching his brothers. As far as he knows, ghosts doesn´t need to sleep. His eyes adjust to the darkness some more, and he can see Ben smiling softly.  
“He really cares about you, Klaus. He might not ever say it, the cranky old man, but I can see it. He was heartbroken when you cried”, the ghost says, his voice taking on a sad tone at the end.  
Klaus smiles at those words, head already on the one pillow he is sharing with his brother. Five´s hair is sticking up in every direction, and he looks so adorable it´s almost comical, considering this man is a super-deadly assassin.  
“Night, Five”, he whispers softly.  
He can tell Five is smiling.  
“Good night, young man. Sleep well.”

Klaus smiles, closing his eyes, only happy thoughts occupying his mind as he slips into sleep.


End file.
